Iker Casillas
believes he must
shoulder much of
the blame for
Spain's humbling
5-1 defeat to the Netherlands.
Louis van Gaal's side recovered from
falling behind to a first-half Xabi
Alonso penalty, with Arjen Robben
and Robin van Persie both scoring
twice and Stefan De Vrij adding
another to avenge the 1-0 defeat the
Dutch suffered in the final of the
2010 World Cup.
Casillas, whose heavy touch allowed
van Persie to nip in and score the
Oranje's fourth goal on the night
after he had earlier missed the cross
for De Vrij's tap-in, acknowledged that
he was below the standard expected
of him and apologised to the Spain
supporters.
"It's time to be quiet, to reflect and
think about the next match against
Chile as a final," the 33-year-old was
quoted as saying by Marca.
"We apologise, and I am the first in
line. Our fans must give out the
criticism that comes to us and forget
what happened soon.
"I have not been up to par and I
accept that. We have not been
fortunate, starting with me. Now only
we think about the next game.
"I have to take the blame. All we
could do is think about the next
game when they scored the third goal
and went further behind. I am
mature enough to receive all
criticism. We must sort ourselves
out."La Roja boss Vicente Del Bosque,
however, insisted that no one player
should shoulder the burden of
responsibility for the loss, especially
not their goalkeeper.
"When a team loses a match it's not
just the performance of one single
player, its a weakness in the total
squad," the 63-year-old said.
"We can't blame anyone, least of all
Iker Casillas."
Spain, who sit bottom of Group B
after the first round of games, face
Chile on June 18, who beat Australia
3-1 in their first match.
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